


Better Than Hot Dogs

by bossbeth



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: AgentCorp, F/F, First Date, kara is a very medium wingman, kara ships them, meet cute, more like meat cute am i right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-18 20:18:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13107777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bossbeth/pseuds/bossbeth
Summary: When Alex is struggling - and god, she's struggling right now - she likes to eat absolute garbage.  But she's an adult, so she can eat gourmet garbage.  Indulgence is as simple as a trip to the fancy grocery store on the other end of the city.Where of course she'll run into Lena Luthor, who will absolutely judge that garbage, and invite her over to dinner instead.  And Alex realizes just how pretty her sister's best friend is.





	Better Than Hot Dogs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Iamsuperconfused](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamsuperconfused/gifts).



> I was excited to get this secret santa prompting because I had never considered agentcorp... but now I'm considering it.... a lot....
> 
> Hope you like it, Iamsuperconfused ! The prompt was Alex/Lena, "Their First Night Together." I wrote this during the season three hiatus, so it's sort of post Alex snogged Sara Lance, yet in a void where James went unsnogged. Sorry not sorry James.
> 
> (This fic was written to the delightfully gay [Hayley Kiyoko's "Feelings"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV-_Yuc228s) which I highly, highly recommend.)

When Alex felt unmoored, she fell back on ritual.

Some rituals were new - like Sunday morning hikes with J'onn and his father.

Others were old, old, old. Which is why Sunday afternoon, she found herself trekking to an area of National City well outside her tax bracket, wandering through its excessively fancy grocery store.

She smiled at the clerk behind the meat counter when they handed her her order and was suddenly struck by the thought of making a triple batch for Kara. "Actually, can I have another pound?"

"Alex?"

Alex glanced behind her, only to see her own face reflected in a pair of extremely large sunglasses, vivid red lips quirked into a smile just below.

Of course if she was going to run into anyone at the bougiest grocery store in town, it was going to be Lena Luthor. But Alex hadn't ever seen casual Lena Luthor before. It hadn't even occurred to her that Lena could be casual. Surely she'd emerged from the earth, fully formed, striding forth in louboutins.

But apparently, Lena Luthor had no qualms with running errands in sweatpants tucked into some incredibly comfortable looking shoes that made Uggs seem tasteful.  All this while swimming in an enormous black sweater, her hair pulled back in a messy bun.

Lena seemed to take her dumbstruckness as confusion. "Alex? It's Lena. Kara's friend?"

"No, yes, I know! Of course, hi Lena!" Alex said, pulling a face and opening her arms for a hug. "I'm just surprised to see you."

An eyebrow arched above those sunglasses as Lena pulled away from the friendly embrace.  "I think that should be my line.  What are you doing on this side of town?"

Alex realized that the clerk had left her other package on the counter. She grabbed it and tucked it into her cart before fully turning to Lena again. "This is the best butcher counter in National City. It's always worth the extra effort of getting over here, especially at the end of a long week."

"Understandable," said Lena, glancing into Alex's basket. "Nothing can beat their..." Somehow, Lena's brow managed to arch higher. "Hot dogs? Oh, sweetheart."

"They're good hot dogs, Lena," said Alex, feeling foolish and somehow vulnerable. "And it's kind of part of a thing I do."

Lena wasn't looking at her, but instead kept peering into her cart. "A thing that involves macaroni noodles, a significant amount of cheese, and a box of wine?"

Alex shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's a ritual from my doctorate days. Whenever I was stressed or overwhelmed, I'd make mac and cheese and franks, and eat it right out of the pot with a spoon."

Lena took off her sunglasses, revealing barely made up green eyes, soft with concern. "I'm sorry to hear times are hard enough that you're resorting to hot dogs."

Alex laughed at that. "Well, the best part of being an adult is at least I can make it with better ingredients. Sometimes I even throw in a vegetable."

Now it was Lena's turn to laugh. "Yeah, I don't remember vegetables making much of an appearance when I was in grad school." Her smile was genuine, her gaze steady. Lena eyed Alex up and down, and seemed to make some sort of decision. "Tell me if I'm being too bold, but if you're not in the best of spirits, would you like some company? Of course, I'd understand if you want to be alone..."

The phrasing triggered something in Alex. Lately, she'd been making a lot of choices that resulted in her being alone.  Is that what she wanted?

That tremor of awareness aside, Alex had never really spent any time with Lena. Not just the two of them, at least. It was always a group thing, always something circling around their shared love of Kara. It had never occurred to her to even try to connect, or that Lena would even want to.

But it’d also never occurred to her how cute Lena would look in a pair of joggers.

"Warming up to the whole bachelor-chow, mac-and-cheese thing?" Alex answered, leaning in a little.

Lena popped her sunglasses back on. "Somehow, no. I was going to propose you bring along that wine and let me make you some actual food."

"They're really, really good hot dogs!" protested Alex again, gesturing to her cart emphatically. Lena laughed and turned to the counter, greeting the clerk warmly and asking for a ribeye steak.

"Just one?" asked the clerk, clearly amused and glancing at Alex expectantly.

Lena turned and smiled at Alex as well.

"Make that two," said Alex, wondering distantly what the hell she was doing.

 

To say that one's gaydar is broken implies it worked in the first place. If Alex had ever had functioning gaydar, maybe she would have picked up her own transmissions far, far sooner. As it was, she operated under the assumption she held herself to for too long: assume general asexuality unless observation dictates otherwise.

Kara’d told her about Jack Spheer, which had lead Alex to some vaguely hetereosexual conclusions - but whatever Lena had once shared with him did not preclude her from what Alex was pretty sure was flirting all the way through checkout. Lena asked for her number to text Alex her address, and left, waving goodbye as she turned to enter a waiting town car.

Alex waved back, feeling the notification buzz in her back pocket and wondering, again, what the hell she was doing.

She pulled out her phone, feeling a funny sort of buzz linger in her limbs as she thumbed to save Lena's number. Before she bothered to map the address, she pulled up Kara's name and jotted out a text.

` > Hey! So, is there any chance that Lena Luthor is gay?`

She shut her bag of groceries in the trunk - Lena had promised fridge space to her abandoned hot dogs; there would always be tomorrow night's dinner - and sat in the driver's seat before she felt a rapid series of buzzes. She opened her phone and her messaging app rolled over text after text in quick succession. Alex wondered if the friction didn't wear down Kara's screen.

` > Seriously?`   
` > Omg I think you may be the only person in National City who doesn't know`   
` > Didnt you see that garbage the NCZ posted about her last fundraiser`   
` > their headline was Lena Luthor's Gal Pal Gala Valhalla`

Alex smiled and pulled up the route to Lena's apartment. Not too far. She checked the traffic while more text rolled across the top of her screen.

` > which, first of all, is just a bad headline what does it even mean`   
` > but also - gross`   
` > I swear I am trying to figure out if edge put them up to it somehow?`   
` > But whatever he's a turd!!!!! and guess what turd Lena doesn't care if people know she's a lesbian`   
` > It's 2017 turd`

Alex smiled as she eyed the route to Lena's place, closing the app just in time to see one last text.

` > why are you asking???`

Alex slid her phone back into her pocket, ignoring the buzzes as she turned the ignition.

 

After she’d exited the elevator to Lena's floor, the buzzing had slowed to only one every few minutes.

She entered a short hallway flanked with faintly glowing opaque glass walls, broken only by a single door across from her. At a bit of a loss - the woman at the desk had said nothing, simply sent her up after checking her ID - Alex gave the door a furtive knock.

Faster than she expected, the door swung open, revealing Lena's face broken by a genuine smile. Her messy bun had been exchanged for a sloppy ponytail, and her giant sweater discarded altogether, revealing a scoop neck thermal in ugly camo. It clashed terribly with the heathered red of her joggers.

Alex's heart did a little turn, and she just managed to not do a goofy-esque hyuck in greeting.

"I have a place of honor prepared in the fridge for these," Lena said as she took Alex's grocery bag, "and if you don't mind me putting you to work decanting your box of red, I have two very large glasses waiting on the bar."

Apparently Lena liked her apartments like she liked her wine glasses. The loft was decadent in scale - tall windows, open spaces, plush furniture and warm woods. Bold architectural strokes softened by warm colors and natural materials. It was welcoming, but still so large, and clearly very expensive... Alex felt faintly out of her depth as she slipped off her shoes and padded after Lena toward the kitchen.

"Dinner shouldn't take more than half an hour. My skillet's warming in the oven, salad fixings are all underway - and fortunately for you, I prepped two twice baked potatoes yesterday anyway so I could have leftovers."

"I admit that sounds a little better than what I was planning," conceded Alex. She watched Lena move through the kitchen until her attention was drawn by the buzz of Lena's phone on the counter. Alex saw the name KARA in all caps before Lena leaned over to swipe her screen, read, and smile.

Alex took a deep gulp of wine.

"So, Alex Danvers. Tell me. Do you want a distraction? Or do you want to talk about whatever it is getting you down?"

"You're managing the distraction part just fine, thank you," said Alex, eyeing Lena's throat with a boldness she willed herself to feel. "And thanks for the offer. But it doesn't seem right to play host and just let me drop all my emotional baggage on you."

Lena smiled, and clinked her glass against Alex's. "If you're anything like me, you know ignoring your own bullshit for a hot second to care about someone else's can be incredibly cathartic."

Alex didn't drink, instead just stared back at Lena, unblinking. "There are other forms of catharsis."

There was Lena's brow arching again, her control betrayed by a blush creeping up her throat. "And after dinner, maybe we can get to one or two of those?"

"I'll drink to that," said Alex. Then, laughing, "Wow, that was all way more smooth and straightforward than I normally manage."

Lena leaned against the counter with a grin. "Happy to be a muse. And this can be straightforward, Alex. I've always thought I enjoyed your company. I'm happy to see my instincts seem to be correct so far."

"Flirting is a science I've never really explored. I've always been too busy to get out into the field."

"And I'll drink to _that_ ," said Lena, sipping from her glass. "I've spent most of my life trying to be a good daughter, the perfect sister, the proper scion. Mostly I've managed to splash around in the company ink, which winds up being far filthier than I ever imagined." She corrects herself, finger extended to emphasize her point. "And not filthy in the fun way."

"I can understand that," said Alex. "It's just been quite a year. Work is good, has always been good, but it's just consuming."

"And what do you do again? Kara said you were into bioengineering?"

Alex winced, "Ah, yes. I'm, yeah, a scientist, and I work for... an agency... in the... government."

Lena refilled her glass, nodding. "Sounds to me as if there might be an NDA in the mix. I formally retract the question."

A feeling of tremendous awkwardness washed over Alex, a tactile sensation like a tug in her gut, high, behind her navel.  "I appreciate it.  But, you know, I put a lot of me in my work, and always have.  I realize now I’ve sort of always put all of me into something else, school or work, or my family.  But I met Maggie, and I feel like she... opened this door inside me.  Or maybe showed me a hallway within me, filled with doors to be opened?  And like, I've been brave enough to open a few, and I've learned a lot about myself.  But it's terrifying, because I feel like I'm finally figuring out who I am and what's important to me.  But I've already lost...  It's already pushed people away.  Everyone liked who I was.  Who will be there when I figure out who I really am?"

Alex didn't mean to vent. She didn't mean to say... any of that. She certainly didn't intend to say the M word - talking about her ex certainly didn't make Alex feel great, and generally speaking, when a girl invites you over, you probably shouldn't vomit all of your feelings right away. Save it for the second date at least, Alex.

But instead Lena just listened to every word with a gentle expression on her face, and halfway through reached out to squeeze Alex's hand, leaving hers resting there, not pulling away.

"I know precisely what you're talking about." Lena's voice was soft. "When people expect things from you, it's galvanizing. You either have a place to step in to, or something to rebel against." Lena grinned. "I try to manage a little bit of both." Lena eyed her appraisingly. "So how long have you been out?"

Alex laughed. "Ohhhh, that's an embarrassing thing for a grown woman to admit to a pretty lady. Well. I broke up with Maggie six months ago, and we were together for six months - so, a year?"

Lena nodded, leaning her chin against her palm, elbow planted toward Alex.  "I was adopted when I was four.  When I was twelve, I realized I liked girls.  A lot.  And both those truths were things I carried with me for the last decade, and made me feel just enough out of place that I never really felt settled."

A decade? Alex did some mental math, and began to sweat. How old was Lena again?

"So I had the benefit of self-awareness way, way too early. And I'm not going to lie to you, Alex. It's hard, and it can be lonely." Her eyes went unfocused. "Everyone in my family wanted me to be someone different. All of them in slightly different ways from each other, even." She focused back on Alex, and her smile was sad, but full, and vulnerable. "It made me all the more determined to be me. Because at the end of the day, I have to go to sleep being me, and wake up being me, so I sure as hell better learn to like her."

Lena took another drink. "Most days, I don't. But I know exactly who I am. For better or worse. And I highly recommend it."

Lena raised her glass. "But you and I have something special."

Alex raised her glass with a bemused expression. "What's that?"

"No matter what we do or who we decide we are, Kara Danvers will always love us. To Kara."

Alex felt her grin stretch, broad and genuine.  "To Kara."  The clink of their glasses reverberated in Alex’s fingers, pulling her grin just a little wider.

 

Alex excused herself to the bathroom and Lena nodded her to a door down the hall.  The bathroom was larger than Alex's first apartment - a roomy shower, a soaking tub, a chaise, a vintage sink.  All gleaming tile and more open windows, glimmering with some sort of texture that she assumed made the glass one way.

Alex washed her hands, adjusted her eyeliner, and slumped onto the chaise, thumbing to her texts.

`77 Unread Messages`

She opened the chain - the last ten had just been a series of emoji - and texted her sister.

` > Hey. Sorry for going radio silent.`

There was no delay in the response.

` > Sooo she's making you dinner huh`   
` > La dee da`   
` > She's never cooked for me`   
` > I didn't know she cooked???`

` > I have another question.`

` > I have another answer probably maybe`

Her fingers hovered over her keyboard, trying to think of how to say the words. Instead she typed something altogether different.

` > How old is Lena exactly?`

` > Lol now you ask that huh`   
` > Realizing you're out with your little sister's bestie`   
` > You didn't even ask my permission you know`   
` > Good thing I know how lonely you both are`   
` > and how great you both are`   
` > and how good a makeout session would be for all of us`   
` > Anyway!!!!!!!`   
` > you know you can just like google these things right`

Alex hadn't even considered that she could have avoided her sister's teasing altogether with a cursory internet search.

` > Why should I Ask Jeeves when I can Ask Kara?`

` > Whats ask jeeves`   
` > She just turned 24`   
` > Cradle robber`   
` > Why, did you suddenly realize you're going full Carol`

Alex took a deep breath.

` > How do you lie to her?`

Kara's end of the conversation went silent.

Alex saw her typing, but the typing notification went away as she lapsed once more into silence. It took Alex a bit longer to type out her thoughts with her slow human thumbs.

` > She's so sweet and open`   
` > It feels wrong to not like be the same back`   
` > All I'm hiding is the existence of the DEO`   
` > And that's so hard`   
` > How do you do it?`

She stared at the screen. After a moment, she saw Kara typing again, and eventually her sister responded

` > Lena's special`

There was a pause before her sister's texts came out in another rush.

` > She's been through so much, and it hasn't changed her heart`   
` > She's genuine and real, and I can be myself with her`   
` > I may not tell her about Supergirl`   
` > but she knows me better than anyone ever has`   
` > except you`   
` > I can talk to her about everything and she cares about who I am and making sure i'm ok`   
` > The DEO doesn't matter. It's your job. It's an important job. But it's not who you are`   
` > She likes who you are, Alex`

` > I guess that makes sense.`

` > Also she just like likes you`   
` > So why are you talking to me exactly`

Alex exhaled sharply.

` > What if she doesn't want what I want? Maggie didn't.`

` > Lena isn't Maggie`   
` > And just talk to her`   
` > She'll talk to you`   
` > It'll be what it is`   
` > Just be kind to yourself ok?`   
` > and to her`

` > Thanks, sis.`

Alex shut down her phone just in time to see one last "I love you!!!!" and a series of heart emojis flash across her screen. She washed her hands, and went back into Lena's apartment.

 

Dinner was amazing. Lena managed to almost burn the steaks, and her twice baked potatoes were maybe half baked once - but her salad was on point. And, well, there was the company.

Alex insisted on cleaning the kitchen, so it was Lena's turn to watch, leaning on the inside of the kitchen island, just ever so slightly in Alex's path.

"Oh, would you like me to move?" she said with a shit-eating grin as Alex leaned around her to grab her plate.

Alex quirked an eyebrow back at her, setting the dish back down in favor of placing her hands on Lena's hips. "I would like you to move, actually..."

Which was, because sometimes the fates are kind, exactly when a song with a rich bass line rumbled through Lena's stereo system. Alex gave her most roguish smile and began to dance, first in place with only her hips, then gently pulling Lena along into the center of the kitchen.

Today Alex learned that Lena Luthor owned at least one pair of joggers, was a practicing homosexual, was excellent at almost burning steaks, and not really any good at dancing.

But she went along gamely, even shyly, a side of Lena that Alex hadn’t seen before.  It kindled something wicked and raw in Alex, who spun her away just enough to pull her back in again.

Lena stepped on her own foot, and laughed, a little too loud and a lot too delighted by her own ineptitude. Alex laughed too, and tugged her closer, and tipped that strong jaw up with her finger, and stared into those pretty green eyes, and kissed her.

Alex had been very, very drunk the last time she’d kissed a woman, and the time before that, too.  Drinking was a way to blot out her thoughts, to gain a moment's quietude.

But she had stopped drinking an hour ago. Very sober and very kissing Lena Luthor in her kitchen, Alex felt that quietude settle all on its own.

"I wonder if you're going to spend the night with me," whispered Lena when they pulled apart at last.

Alex made a show of glancing around pointedly as she danced Lena out of the kitchen. "Which way's a soft surface? With pillows and everything?"

"There's a bed in that direction..."

Alex dipped Lena, who erupted into laughter at the unexpected swoop. She pulled Lena back up and kissed her giggles away, then paused gravely. "But there's things we haven't discussed first. Here's a big one: do you mind if I lead?"

Lena nipped at Alex's throat. "You'd better."

"So far, so good." Alex gripped Lena's hand and tugged her forward in a sort of tango in the direction of the bed, and Lena laughed and laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a little fast, and a little loose, and a little raw... but so is Lena Luthor, so. SO! I also really, really love the idea that texting with Kara is a little overwhelming, because she types so damn fast, hahaha.
> 
> Heaps of thanks to PoppyCartinelli for the beta read! I appreciate it so much, darlin'.
> 
> I shitpost drama-free on tumblr at [**go-away-brian**](https://go-away-brian.tumblr.com/) \- come say hi!


End file.
